Here's a response from my old hood to the item
the other day about Zalmay Khalilzad, a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan,
calling on U.S. military spending in that country to be re-directed in such a
way as to stimulate the Afghan economy. He says some of the things Khalilzad
mentioned already are being done:
Greetings from Kabul. To
introduce myself, I'm Colonel (Canadian Army, Retired) Mike Capstick, the
Country Director, Peace Dividend Trust -- Afghanistan. We're an
International not-for-profit NGO, see: http://www.peacedividendtrust.org/
One of our major projects is Peace
Dividend Marketplace -- Afghanistan. The mission of this project is to
advocate and facilitate local procurement by the entire international
community. The concept is simple, keep more of the money being spent on Afghanistan
in Afghanistan.
On this point I couldn't agree more with the spirit and intent of the
comments attributed to Ambassador Khalilzad in your post dated 16 December.
Ambassador Khalilzad is on target
when he advocates an "Afghan First" approach that leverages the
impressive spending power of the US military and other international entities
to stimulate the economy. He is, however, a bit out of date when he
implies that the US Mission is still importing everything that it consumes.
In recent months Ambassador
Eikenberry and General McChrystal (as CG USFOR-A) have issued a formal Afghan
First policy that applies to the entire mission -- the military, USAID, State
and their contractors. This policy formalizes the Afghan First effort
that the DOD contracting system has been pursuing since 2006. Khalilzad
is entirely correct in his assessment of the enormous potential impact of US
military spending on the Afghan economy. The Ambassador understands this
as does the military -- in the last FY, the DOD contracting system awarded over
$1 Billion in contracts to Afghan businesses. This represents around 70%
of their total expenditures, and we estimate that this will exceed the $2
Billion mark this year.
The DOD contracting system, under
the leadership of the Principal Assistant Responsible for Contracting -
Afghanistan, actively uses Peace Dividend Marketplace -- Afghanistan's
expertise, experience ad services. For example, our Helmand office supported
the Regional Contracting Center in Camp Leatherneck with the organization of a
very successful business conference this past October. Since then, RCC
Leatherneck has awarded over 200 contracts to local businesses, worth around
$31 Million. This indicates the impressive commitment that the US
military has to the Afghan First policy.
The Ambassador also recalls
drinking water imported from Dubai. He can be assured that this is no
longer necessary. In 2006 Lt.-Gen. Karl Eikenberry, the current American
Ambassador, initiated a focused effort to get Afghan produced water into the
supply chain. Despite resistance, the CG (with the assistance of Peace
Dividend Trust) made it happen and the result was the establishment of a now
thriving water production company. This, in turn, spurred a number of
other Afghan companies to make the necessary investments and the beverage
business is now very competitive.
Water is but one example. US
military spending in the construction sector has caused the entire industry to
improve its quality and standards and almost all Afghan security force uniforms
and boots are now locally produced. Similar examples can be found in
almost every economic sector. Finally, Ambassador Eikenberry's leadership
by example on Afghan First has inspired any number of Embassies, UN Agencies
and donors to step-up their Afghan First efforts.
Thanks for using Best Defense to
raise this crucial issue. Of course, much more needs to be done to build
a self-sustaining economy in Afghanistan and to provide employment. Our
donors, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the British
Department for International Development (DFID) and USAID fund the Peace
Dividend Marketplace - Afghanistan project because they recognize the importance
of economic development to Afghans. The US Mission and the military also
recognize this, and they have led the way in using their massive spending power
to stimulate the economy and to create jobs.
MASSOUD HOSSAINI/AFP/Getty Images
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